Leaked American F-35 and F-15 documents appear authentic, Chinese security expert says

Analysts question usefulness of US military info released by Russian pilot on Telegram while urging Chinese to keep nation’s own data safe

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Leaked American files include manuals for the F-35 jet, pictured, as well as documents relating to the F-15, the Switchblade drone and precision-guided missiles. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:54pm, 9 Jul 2024Updated: 7:41pm, 9 Jul 2024

Recently leaked documents, purported to contain technical information about the F-35 fighter jet and sensitive US weapons, appear authentic, according to a Chinese information security expert.

A user claiming to be a Russian pilot, identifying himself as Ivan Ivanov with the handle Fighterbomber, stated on the Telegram encrypted messaging service they had received 250 gigabytes of US military data from an American company.

On July 2, Fighterbomber posted some of the documents to their channel, which has more than 500,000 subscribers before uploading more of the leaked data the next day. Some of the uploaded documents remain available for download.

“We downloaded and examined the files, much of this content appears to be highly authentic,” said Tang, chief marketing officer of Beijing-based antivirus and network security firm Rising Information Technology, who asked to be referred to by his surname only.

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The leaked files include manuals for the F-35 jet and documents relating to the F-15 and its modifications and weapon systems, the Switchblade drone and precision-guided missiles.